basin - The Environment Report

Ijc Hears Concerns Over Task Force Report

An international group that monitors the health of the Great Lakes is working on a report that they hope will help policymakers manage the waters in the basin. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Annie MacDowell reports on a public hearing that took place in Chicago:

Transcript

An international group that monitors the health of the Great Lakes is working on a report that
they hope will help policymakers manage the waters in the basin. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Annie MacDowell reports on a public hearing that took place in Chicago:

Concerned groups responded to a report that came out two weeks ago by the International Water
Uses Review Task Force. The International Joint Commission appointed the task force to
provide an update on developments that have taken place in the basin since the Commission’s
2000 report.

Noah Hall is from the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes Office. He says he’s
concerned the task force’s report does not emphasize how serious threats to the Great Lakes have
become.

“The report could mislead the public or interested policy makers and lull policy makers into
complacency in terms of the need and the urgency for basin-wide protection for the Great Lakes,
particularly for ground water.”

Hall said ground water depletion is causing problems in the communities around the Great Lakes
Basin. Other criticisms of the report were its failure to look toward the future on issues like
climate change and water diversion. The U. S. Chairman of the IJC says the Commission will
study all the public’s comments at a retreat and write their official report within two to three
months.

For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Annie MacDowell.

Army Corps to Expand Ship Channels?

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is considering expanding canals, channels, harbors, and locks to make way for larger ocean-going ships to enter the Great Lakes. But as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports, not everyone thinks that’s such a good idea:

Transcript

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is considering expanding canals, channels, harbors and locks to make way for larger ocean-going ships to enter the Great Lakes, but as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports… not everyone thinks that’s such a good idea:

An Army Corps of Engineers’ draft report indicates the Corps wants to determine the feasibility of dredging and widening connecting channels to allow ships that are 250 feet longer and 30 feet wider than the biggest ship entering the Great Lakes today. Jennifer Nalbone is with Great Lakes United, a U.S. and Canadian consortium of environmental and other groups. She says there are lots of concerns. They include the disruption to the environment that the expansions would require, and concerns about larger foreign ships bringing more exotic invasive species into the Great Lakes.

“All of these environmental problems that we’re seeing in the basin could be amplified quite significantly if we allow larger foreign ships to gain access to the basin.”

Expansions at every connecting channel between the Great Lakes are being considered.

For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

Conjecture Continues on Water Levels

Whether Great Lakes water levels are expected to improve this summer depends on who you ask. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

Whether Great Lakes water levels are expected to improve this summer depends on who you ask. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

The average water levels of the Great Lakes have dropped about four feet in the last four years. The Army Corps of Engineers says with heavy snowfall in March and heavy rains in recent weeks in some parts of the basin, the Corps is expecting some improvement in those levels. But a meteorologist concedes that the Corps predictions disagree with those of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Cynthia Sellinger is a hydrologist with NOAA. She says because of warmer than normal weather, much of the precipitation evaporated instead of running off into the lakes.

“Without a good spring run-off which gives us our seasonal rise, the lakes will be either at last year’s level or slightly lower.”

And NOAA says for the next three months the Great Lakes basin can expect average precipitation and that won’t help the lakes replenish themselves.

For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

Study Yields Insight on Fertilizer Use

A new study published in the journal Nature indicates that farmers could save fertilizer costs and pollute less while producing the same harvest. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

Researchers at the University of Illinois studied the use of nitrogen as a fertilizer on crop fields in the Mississippi River basin from the 1950’s to the 1990’s. Based on what they found, they think farmers could have reduced nitrogen fertilizer use by a relatively low 12 percent and kept harvest yields the same, yet reduced nitrate levels in the Mississippi river by a relatively high 33 percent. That might have significantly reduced the so-called dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico where the Mississippi carries the nitrates. Gregory McIsaac is the principle author of the study. He says farmers could reduce nitrogen use if for no other reason than saving money.

“Farmers have been applying more nitrogen than they need and they can reduce their fertilizer application and be better off, whether or not it has any impact on water quality.”

McIsaac notes a survey conducted last year found about 30 percent of Illinois farmers indicated they use more nitrogen than is recommended, hoping for better crop production.

For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.